Full Tilt! Pinball

Full Tilt! Pinball
Developer(s) Cinematronics, LLC
Publisher(s) Maxis Software
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows (v1 and v2), Mac OS (v1 only)
Release date(s) 1995 (1995)
Genre(s) Arcade game, pinball
Mode(s) Single player, Hotseat multiplayer

Full Tilt! Pinball is a pinball video game developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis in 1995. It featured pre-rendered 3D graphics and three tables: Space Cadet, Skulduggery, and Dragon's Keep. On each table, there were displays on the side which showed the players' score, ball number, player number, a display for various information and a table-specific image.

Tables

Space Cadet

The Space Cadet table features the player as a member of a space fleet that completes missions to increase rank. Players can attain 9 different ranks (listed from lowest to highest): Cadet, Ensign, Lieutenant, Captain, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Commodore, Admiral, and Fleet Admiral. Players accept a mission by hitting "mission targets" which select which mission they will take, and by going up the "launch ramp". Each mission has a set number of things for players to do, such as hitting the "attack bumpers" (which are a set of four bumpers at the top of the table) eight times (this is the "target practice" mission). Some missions involve a number of steps which must be completed in sequence. Missions end either by being completed, or by being aborted due to running out of "fuel", as indicated by the lights in the passage that passes under the launch ramp. The "fuel" lights go out one by one at a time interval, and can be re-lit by having the ball go over them, or all at once by going up the launch ramp again. Upon completing a mission, some of the blue lights in a circle in the middle of the table turn on. When all of the lights in the blue circle turn on, the player's rank increases, and a light in the orange circle turns on.

Space Cadet is a part of base Windows Me and Windows XP.

Skulduggery

Full Tilt! version of the Skulduggery table

The Skulduggery table features a treasure hunt where the player must find Peg Leg's loot. The player can accomplish that two ways: either by piecing together a treasure map or by activating and completing a series of mini-games on the table called modes. Modes are like missions and quests of the other two tables. They are all pirate themed mini-games, such as ship battle, tavern fight, escape Bermuda Triangle, mutiny, and sword fight.

Dragon's Keep

The Dragon's Keep table features a fantasy environment where players must accomplish various quests, leading to the slaying of a dragon. The quests include Dragon Hoard (steal the hoard), Fire Lizard Attack (defeat the fire lizard), Rescue Maiden (rescue the damsel in distress), Dragon Pass (find the path to dragon's lair), Wizard's Fury, and Slay Dragon. The player can acquire awards such as spells, weapons, and armors. While weapons simply add points to the score, armors and spells temporarily turn on various gates, magnets, and chutes on the table to change the gameplay.

Elements from each of the three tables were elected for representation by Maxis in the illustration for the box art by Marc Ericksen, creating a montage below a hurtling Pinball.

3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet

3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet

Space Cadet table: Windows XP version on top of Full Tilt! version
Developer(s) Cinematronics
Publisher(s) Microsoft
Composer(s) Matt Ridgeway
Platform(s) Windows 95 - Windows XP
Release date(s) 1995 (1995)
Genre(s) Arcade game, pinball
Mode(s) Single player or multiplayer (up to four)

3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet is a version of that table bundled with Microsoft Windows. It was originally packaged with Microsoft Plus! 95 and later included in Windows NT 4.0, Windows Me, Windows 2000, the 32-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Windows 98 installation CD has instructions on installing Pinball 3D on this version of Windows which are partly wrong; Microsoft later issued an updated support article.[1] Windows XP was the last Windows client to include this game.[2]

The look and feel of Full Tilt! Pinball and 3D Pinball are similar, with a few exceptions: The latter contains only the Space Cadet table and only supports 640×480 resolution, while the former supports three different resolutions up to 1024×768. The image on the side is a two-dimensional image as opposed to pre-rendered 3D. The words Maxis and Cinematronics have been changed from the yellow to a dark red, making them harder to see. It sports a splash screen that merely says 3D Pinball and shows a small pinball graphic with faded edges. Music is not enabled by default in 3D Pinball. It has fewer soundtracks that are inspired by the original game.

There are only a few minor differences between the gameplay of the two versions. Most notably, the completion of a mission in the Maxis version results in a replay (actually a ball save rather than a special) being awarded. In addition, hitting a wormhole that has the same color light activates the multi-ball round. This is not the case in 3D Pinball: Completing a mission merely awards bonus points and hitting a wormhole in the above circumstances awards a replay. Another difference is about the three yellow lights above the bumpers (both in the launch ramp and in the upper table zone): In 3D Pinball these are turned back off if the ball passes on them while they are on. This is not the case in the original game, where they just remain activated. Finally, in the Windows version, the fuel lasts longer.

3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet was removed from later releases of Windows due to a collision detection bug in the 64 bit version of the game that Microsoft was not able to resolve in time for the release of Vista.[3]

3D Pinball is now available in a metro version as Pinball Star. The game-play and graphics are less realistic than in either 3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet or Full Tilt! Space Cadet.[4]

Full Tilt! Pinball 2

Full Tilt! Pinball 2 was released in 1996 and features three new tables: Mad Scientist, Alien Daze and Captain Hero.

References

  1. ↑ "How to Install 3D Pinball Using Windows 98 CD-ROM". Support. Microsoft. 23 January 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Chen, Raymond (18 December 2012). "Why was Pinball removed from Windows Vista?". The Old New Thing. Microsoft. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
  3. ↑ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2012/12/18/10378851.aspx
  4. ↑ http://www.thewindowsclub.com/download-classic-pinball-game-windows-8

External links

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